PILOT RESEARCH AWARDS FOR JUNIOR INVESTIGATORS UTILIZING THE CTSI CLINICAL RESEARCH CENTER

Project Award Amount $10,000

Description of Grant Area
CTSI-CRC funds pilot projects that utilize a CRC for the conduct of the research in either an inpatient or outpatient setting. The pilot project funds are intended to support the research project of a junior investigator included in a funded K23 application or to support the accumulation of pilot data necessary for submission of a mentored career development award. Funding may be utilized for ancillary support (imaging, laboratory studies), study coordinator time, data entry personnel or other justified uses. Investigator salary is not supported by this mechanism. Pilot research should collect data for publication and to submit future successful grant applications.

The degree to which the research is translational, on the path to use in humans, should be clearly described in the proposal. Each pilot project will have a maximum budget of $10,000.

Pilot funding is for a duration of 12 months from the time of award. A progress report is required at the end of the funding period and one year following the funding period, identifying resulting publications and subsequent funding obtained to support the expanded/extended projects. Any resulting publication must directly cite the CTSI grant award.

Note: Priority is given to applicants who have never received funding in this category.

Read more about the CRC sites and services: Clinical Research Center

Eligibility
Junior faculty in all series from all schools and all CTSI affiliated institutions are eligible to apply for these funds. Junior faculty, defined as Assistant Professor, instructor, or with six or fewer years post completion of training are eligible. CRC supported awards include applicants with funded K23 awards that will use a CRC for the conduct of their research.

Note: One of the nine CTSI Clinical Research Centers must be utilized for the conduct of the research protocol sponsored by this award.

Designation of Research Mentor
All pilot award applications from individuals at Assistant level or below require the designation of a faculty mentor. This should be an individual who has primary responsibility for overseeing the research career development of the applicant, and therefore advises the applicant on the formulation and writing of the application, as well as implementation of the project. Ideally this should be someone already assigned through the applicant's department. If no such person has yet been named, the applicant must arrange this before submission of the grant proposal. Please note that the decision on funding, along with the grant reviewers' comments, will be communicated to both the applicant and mentor.

Criteria for Review
Projects will be evaluated based on the strength of the proposal, the potential of the proposal to lead to a fully funded independent research grant, and the quality and potential of the applicant and the research team. For CTSI funding, the proposal must meet CTSI criteria of translational science: "T1 translational research" or "T2 translational research" and must propose the use of a CRC facility for the conduct of the research.

Pilot projects that involve human subjects will require human research committee approval before funding is released. Proposals and Protocols associated with this award must be reviewed and authorized by a CRC advisory committee before funding is released.

Evaluation criteria will be as follows. Each of the criteria will be considered in assigning the overall score, weighted as appropriate for each application.

Contact:
Emanuela (Emy) Volpe
Ph.: 415-514-6208
E-mail: rap@ucsf.edu